Various Articles
“Surely there is a future, And your hope will not be cut off.” Proverbs 23.11
When you think about the future, what do you envision? Likely there are at least some fear-fear-inducing prospects as well as promising possibilities. The future, it’s been said, is like someone standing before us with their hands behind their back. We don’t know if what they hold is a bouquet or a brickbat. Hidden from our eyes is the reality of either adversity or prosperity, or a likely mixture of both. Whatever may come, we can be assured of this: there IS a future, and our hope will NOT be cut off.
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Chongquing in China came up with a way to remind pedestrians of the danger of being distracted by a cell phone while walking.... separate lanes for those using or not using their cell phone.
Just like driving while distracted, walking while distracted had become an issue.
This got me to thinking about being distracted in our lives. Do we ever get so distracted we forget what is most important?
“I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait, And in His word do I hope.” Psalm 130.5
My quiet times before the LORD can hardly be characterized as spiritually seismic. His presence has never shaken the room, nor has His voice thunderously boomed. Perhaps some day I might have a Moses burning bush experience, or an Isaiah temple experience, but I’m not counting on it, or disappointed by the absence of such an experience. I wait for Him, not for what He might do.
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“For You are my hope; O LORD God, You are my confidence from my youth.” Psalm 71.5
As a child, church attendance for me was not optional. Not that I really minded, because that’s where my friends and extended family went too. In the small town I grew up in, church on Sunday was as much a community gathering as a spiritual event. …
“My soul, wait in silence for God only, For my hope is from Him.” Psalm 62.5
The sounds of silence are the springboard of hope. Despair and discouragement shout loudly to our wounded soul, but silence in God’s presence is healing therapy. In quietness before Him, objectively and perspective are restored…
“Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.” Psalm 43.5
The repetition of the words, “despair” and “disturbed,” sound like a needle stuck on a scratched record: “despair” … click … “despair” … click …“disturbed” … click …“disturbed” …
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Potwin Kansas, a small town near Wichita there is a little 360 acre farm.
It has been owned by the Voglemen family for over 100 years. Joyce, 82 now rents out the property. She remembers when the first bathroom was put in. She wrote Sunday school lessons from this house. The farm contains a pasture, orchard, two barns and an old two-story house.
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Have you ever heard of the Okapi?
It has been described as a horse/zebra/giraffe.
Scientists say it's closely related to the giraffe with a much smaller neck. Note the zebra stripes are only in the areas with thinner skin… for fly protection like we learned on an earlier devotion…
While it was known about for a long time, scientists said it wasn’t a real animal and called it the African Unicorn, meaning just a tall story.
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“Be strong and let your heart take courage, All you who hope in the LORD.” Psalm 31:24
Hope isn’t really hope unless it is our internal guidance system; our life GPS. It is hope in what is to come, but it first of all is hope in “the God of hope” Romans 15:13. Hope in the God of all hope, and hope in what He promises us in the future, filters down into the reality of our existence today. If that hope doesn’t affect us, then it is suspect as to whether it really is hope at all.
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